The Shoe R.I.P.
By scarce Sunday Feb 01, 2009 10:00amAlmost as soon as it went up The Shoe has been brought down. The monument commemorating the journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush was taken down only one day after it was erected. Seems the Central Government just didn't approve.
Children unwrap the sculpture of a shoe created as a monument to the shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist at former U.S. President George W. Bush, in Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. The director of an orphanage in Tikrit said Iraqi police told her the shoe sculpture had to be removed because government property should not be used for something with a political bias. (AP)
The shoe is all its glory.
Jubilant Iraqis at the Shoe's unveiling.
Login or Register to post comments.
May it be placed beside the fallen statue of Saddam as a fitting tribute to the madmen responsible for the deaths, torturing and imprisonment of so many Iraqis.
...for the shoe would be in front of the to-be-built Bush Library at SMU.
But you have to wonder how free they are if they can't put up a statue to an Iraqi hero? Maybe the students of SMU could build their own statue to place there?
Good thing Maxwell Smart was never in boosh's security detail.
The other security guys would be jumping him every time he reached for his shoe phone.
They should have bronzed it.
How often do we see ME guys laughing and having a good time?
I guess we can say the shoe made itself scarce.
As Americans, you all better be erecting a similar monument in spite of the lack of democracy your country supposedly fought for.
I'm erecting something
But as a monument to what I dunno.
but I'm not kidding. The least your country can do is fight for the freedoms your occupation failed to.
I fear I will increasingly despise the American populace when these things are not taken seriously. Obama is starting to look like an accomplice in my eyes. He better start putting people on trial.
.
The NY Times today reports on the controversy surrounding the human rights abuse trials of Khmer Rouge figures for actions taken over a quarter of a century ago. On the front page is an article over the controversy surrounding the transcripts of Nixon's tapes during Watergate. I guess if Carter had prosecuted Nixon for the War crimes we unleashed in Cambodia, he would have soared to reelection and the blogsospher would have hapened so much sooner none of this would be really happening. Instead Carter was an accomplice.
first he must prove he has the vision to look backwards and right some of the wrongs that he can. Sadly, there are some things that can never be fixed.
But there are things that can, and should be punished, lest it be repeated by future despots. Your laws are to be respected. Are you a nation of laws, or of men. It's as simple as that.
speaks more about the Iraqi people than all of the fake democracy we can force on them.
...let's take a long look back at Barack Obama: The First 1000, er, 10 Days.
It looks like the shoe got the boot...
... despite 'provincial elections' is still a bunch of politicians beholden to Bush.
They just loooove that Aqua Velva smell.
Maybe we can get it for next years Xmas display at the Washington State Capitol building.
so when we send shrub over there to serve his jail time for war crimes it can be his cell.
Symbol-ekistan.
Symbol-oloquy.
Symbol-imagery.
Symbol-imaginarium-ology.
Symolism-heard-around-the-world.
Here is SOMETHING...
an ACT...
an IMAGE...
a lowly article of clothing covered in dusty muck and camel shit...
offered in SYMBOLOMETRY of a NATION and a PEOPLE... and perhaps ALL NATIONS... in CONTEMPTO-maniacle-OUTRAGE for a political baffoon who NEVER HAD A CLUE...
and was dangerous TO ALL...
in spite of himself.
"the shoe sculpture had to be removed because government property should not be used for something with a political bias. (AP)"
What with their new found Americqan freedom and all, I thougt Iraqi's could erect a statue of Mohammed pissing in the shoe and name the airport for Ronald Reagan. What did our boys die for anyway?
Precisely. And the world is watching.
I'm Iraqi liberal living abroad for some time. I read this site almost everyday.
Just because Iraqi government and people deal peacefully with the American government does not mean they are puppets or republican stooges, or in love with Bush.
Remember this clearly, countries deal with US government as representative of the American people, whatever you choose, the world have to deal with, there is no love to a person here or political party.
The majority of Iraqi parties in the government are religious parties either they were former anti-Americans or currently with more ties to Iran. so to think of Iraqi government as puppet is amazing.
What do you want us to do? fight the mighty power and for what? Saddam did further damage to the country and he is responsible for the war, and for the sectarian wars because of his unjust wars, discrimination and invasion of Kuwait. why we needed to invade Kuwait anyway? and he is much much worse than any American convicted criminal can be. Now there is freedom and democracy in there, not perfect. But if you have democracy for 200+ years and your democracy still not perfect, how about the 6 years old democracy?
The shoe sculpture was built on an orphanage, and without approval from the governor or the central government, and the government didn't say destroy it, they said removed it from here, put it another place. what's wrong with that? Orphanage receive public funds, and funds are not supposed to be used that way. I personally support that decision, these people are Saddam loyalists and have no shame of supporting him. but I credit them for protesting peacefully, in fact Tikrit were and is amazingly peaceful
But imagine a local government building in the US place a statue of George Bush using public funds, would you not want to remove it? and if removed would you call it anti-democracy?
Not all Iraqis hail the journalist as hero. at least not me, not my family in Iraq, nor my friends nor most of my relatives. and we are certainly not puppets.
and I thought it would make you happy if people form alliance with you or be friendly with you rather than forming alliances with your enemies.
was because Muntadhir al-Zaidi did something no one else here could do -- throw something at the most reviled man in our country, the person who effectively ruined the world. It became thematic here. We were giddy.
I think those of us who applauded that man's action saw it as expression that was way too long in coming and too quickly crushed out.
Since you read this site daily, then you know how we hate George Bush, his family (the parents and grandparents, who were WWII profiteers) and his friends who brought us all to this dark point in our histories.
And you are right, if someone had put up an unauthorised statue of anyone or anything on public property, it would be removed.
The Giant Shoe Museum more here.
That sculpture was built by orphans? How sad. What's even sadder is that their parents were also 'removed' for no good reason.
Can you say ssy sissy sissy sissy. Call the hogs in if you know what I mean.
I love the shoe.George Walker Bush Asshhole at large.
I love the shoe too and am glad that, in building the shoe, those kids had a little joy in their lives. After what has been done to them all, they deserve it.
....Wow!.......do you think most Americans see the tragic dis-connect
in this story? We kill hundreds of thousands of people to "liberate" a country in which once they are "liberated", the central (puppet) government feels the need to censure works of art? Made by orphans? That does nothing but ecourages laughter, discussion and derision? If you the neo-conservatives had not yet provided us with a window into their perfect future......The Shoe would be a good clue....
Regards,
O'Guillory
The shoe is not needed. The Iraqi fake elections have increased the puppet government's hold on power. All has worked out great! The war has been won! The US military overthrew a ruthless dictator, and replaced him with a government that will do everything Uncle Sam wants, or else. It'll work out great for a few years maybe.
That's gonna be awesome. Except this time when the US realizes, "oops, we are impoverished and no longer have any political sway in the world cuz China et al owns all our shit" there won't be turning back on 'friendly' regimes in Iraq. Iraq will run to the power of the day.
Eventually, all these influences are going to turn on the US. At which point, Ron Paul will be speaking mandarin, selling his new pyramid scheme.
Free speech? Free artistic expression?
No. Not under the stooge puppets of U.S. Republican capitalist pigs.
Not free speech on government public funded property , in this case, let Republicans build statues of Bush on government properties.
and they weren't and aren't puppets of Republicans, otherwise Iraqi government wouldn't come up with fair and good terms in SOFA.
To the "The surge worked and we're winning in Iraq!" pundits:
When, nearly six years into it, the president of the "liberating" country has two shoes thrown directly at his head, hard, at a press conference and then the man who threw them is immediately hailed as a national Iraqi hero...an international hero...that ain't "winning".
Login or Register to post comments.